UFC's Colby Covington likes 'cardio kickboxer' Sean Strickland in potential move to middleweight

With three losses in his past four fights, and three setbacks in title fights, it’s likely Colby Covington’s welterweight championship quest has come to the end of the line.

And even though Covington, who will turn 37 next month, has talked about a move to 155 pounds in the past, he now says that won’t happen. Instead, he thinks a move to 185 could be in his future.

“Colby’s thought about moving down to lightweight for many years, and Colby realized he doesn’t want to kill himself,” Covington recently told Submission Radio. “He doesn’t want to be a weight bully. Islam (Makhachev), the Khabib (Nurmagomedovs) of the world, they’re lightweight bullies. They have such a weight advantage – 30, 40 pounds on fight night – but it’s just not healthy. It’s not sustainable, either. You cut all that weight, then you start having organ failure. I want to have a good quality of life. I think about longevity and I think about my health 20, 30 years from now.”

Covington (17-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) was taken out with a third-round TKO loss to Joaquin Buckley (21-6 MMA, 11-4 UFC) at last month at UFC on ESPN 63 in Tampa, Fla. Covington was badly cut early in the fight, and the cageside doctor eventually said the bleeding was too bad for him to continue.

But at middleweight, he could see himself signing up for a fight against a former champion – and he likes how it would make him come off, too.

“I don’t see myself ever going to 155, even though I know I could make it and I’d probably be way stronger than the guys on fight night,” he said. “I’d feel like a bully, and I’m not a bully. I got into MMA because I didn’t like guys bullying me.

“But ’85? Honestly, ’85 is intriguing. I think it would be kind of cool to go up there with a narrative of, ‘Oh, this guy is a small ’70, he’s going to go up to ’85 and take on an even bigger challenge.’ There is a possibility. I’m always looking for the biggest and best fights – it doesn’t matter any weight class.”

The champion he’d aspire to take on? Sean Strickland (29-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC), who upset Israel Adesanya to win the belt in September 2023, but lost it in his first defense to current champ Dricus Du Plessis a year ago.

Strickland takes on Du Plessis in a rematch to headline UFC 312 in a month in Australia.

“The Sean Strickland fight is always interesting,” Covington said. “He’s had things to say about me in the past. I don’t think he’s anything special. He’s got a jab, he’s got a front kick. But you shut those things down, he’s very limited. He’s a cardio fighter. He’s just a cardio kickboxer, essentially. I don’t see any threats out of Sean Strickland. It’s an entertaining fight that I might entertain in the future. We’ll see.”

Covington has lost two straight fights for the first time in his career. If he stays at welterweight, he called for a matchup against former title challenger Gilbert Burns, who was amenable to the fight.